The invention relates to a hand mixer having two mains terminals, which serve for the connection to an a.c. mains, having interference suppression means connected to the two mains terminals for the purpose of interference suppression, and having a motor, which serves for driving mixing tools and which can be brought into electrically conductive contact with the two mains terminals and which is adapted to be energized from an a.c. mains and which is adapted to effect driving with at least two lower speeds and with a speed which is higher than the lower speeds, and having a switching means configuration which includes speed switching means for switching the speed of the motor to different lower speed values, which speed switching means can be actuated with the aid of a first switching handle, and which includes start means for starting the motor at the higher speed, which start means can be actuated with the aid of a second switching handle.
The invention further relates to a switching means configuration for a hand-held mixer, which hand-held mixer has two mains terminals, which serve for the connection to an a.c. mains, and which has interference suppression means connected to the two mains terminals for the purpose of interference suppression, and which has a motor, which serves for driving mixing tools and which can be brought into electrically conductive contact with the two mains terminals and which is adapted to be energized from an a.c. mains and which is adapted to effect driving with at least two lower speeds and with a speed which is higher than the lower speeds, which switching means configuration includes speed switching means for switching the speed of the motor to different lower speed values, which speed switching means can be actuated with the aid of a first switching handle, and which switching means configuration includes start means for starting the motor at the higher speed, which start means can be actuated with the aid of a second switching handle.
Such a hand-held mixer of the type defined in the first paragraph, having a such a switching means configuration of the type defined in the second paragraph, has been put on the market in different versions by the applicant and is therefore known. In the known hand-held mixer and in the known switching means configuration two separate mains terminals are followed by separate interference suppression means for interference suppression purposes and a separate speed selection switch for selectively switching to three lower motor speeds and a separate switch, namely a so-called microswitch, for starting at a high motor speed. The interference suppression means, the speed selection means as well as the microswitch are each arranged at a separate location inside the hand-held mixer, as a result of which the interference suppression means and the speed selection switch as well as the microswitch must each be mounted in the housing of the hand-held mixer in a separate mounting operation and, furthermore, the electrical connections between the two mains terminals and the interference suppression means and the speed selection switch and the microswitch and the motor must be realized with the aid of connecting wires. Thus, the known hand-held mixer and the known switching means configuration are of a quite intricate construction, which in addition also requires a comparatively expensive and complicated mounting process.
It is an object of the invention to preclude the afore-mentioned problems and to provide an improved hand-held mixer and an improved switching means configuration.
According to the invention, in order to achieve this object with a hand-held mixer of the type defined in the first paragraph, the two mains terminals and the speed switching means and the start means are connected mechanically and electrically to form a module, and all the electrical connections between the two mains terminals and the speed switching means and the start means are realized on the module.
It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the description below, that as used herein the word module means an assembly of components that are assembled, and are then mounted together in an apparatus such as a hand mixer, and constitute a functional unit of the hand mixer. The module does not include such other parts of the apparatus such as a frame or housing to which the module is mounted, and does not include other parts of the apparatus which are mounted separately from the module and are connected mechanically and/or electrically to the module or one or more of its components.
Furthermore, according to the invention, in order to achieve said object with a switching means configuration of the type defined in the second paragraph, the switching means configuration is realized by means of a module in which the speed switching means and the start means as well as the two mains terminals for a hand-held mixer are connected mechanically and electrically to this module, and all the electrical connections between the two mains terminals and the speed switching means and the start means are realized on the module.
The provision of the characteristic features in accordance with the invention results in a simple construction which can be very compact. A switching means configuration in accordance with the invention requires only comparatively little space and can be manipulated simply in order to mount it in the housing of a hand-held mixer in accordance with the invention and can be fitted easily and simply into the housing of a hand-held mixer. Since the two mains terminals and the speed switching means as well as the start means are wholly accommodated on the module the electrically conductive connections between said parts of the switching means configuration are also very simple.
For a hand-held mixer in accordance with the invention and a switching means configuration in accordance with the invention it has proved to be very advantageous when the interference-suppression means are also incorporated in the module because this results in a particularly simple construction, in which practically all the electrically relevant parts of the hand-held mixer, except for the motor, are combined to form an easy-to-mount module. However, it is to be noted that in the case of special requirements an interference suppression capacitor provided as interference suppression means may alternatively be arranged directly on the motor for a hand-held mixer in accordance with the invention, which capacitor can discharge via the motor windings, as a result of which no separate discharge resistor is needed in that case.
For a hand-held mixer in accordance with the invention and a switching means configuration in accordance with the invention it has further proved to be very advantageous when connecting leads are fixedly connected to the module and have free ends arranged to be connected to the motor terminals. Such an embodiment is advantageous in view of a simple construction and in view of a simple to realize electrical connection between the module and a motor.
Furthermore, it has proved to be very advantageous when the module further comprises:
a supporting member bounded by a bounding surface,
electrically conductive contact strips connected to the supporting member in the area of the bounding surface and extending parallel to a strip direction,
a first slider which is guided so as to be movable relative to the supporting member parallel to the strip direction and which serves as a mating-contact holder and carries at least two mating contacts which are interconnected in an electrically conductive manner, which cooperate with the contact strips and which together with the contact strips) form the speed switching means,
a second slider which is guided so as to be movable relative to the supporting member and which serves as switching actuator, and
a switching contact which is disposed in the path of movement of the second slider and which forms part of the start means.
Tests have proved that these embodiments are particularly advantageous, especially in view of a simple construction and a very low susceptibility to faults.
For a hand-held mixer in accordance with the invention and a switching means configuration in accordance with the invention it has proved to be very advantageous when the second slider is also guided so as to be movable parallel to the strip direction. This guarantees a particularly compact construction.
Furthermore, it has proved to be advantageous for a hand-held mixer in accordance with the invention and a switching means configuration in accordance with the invention when at least two mating contacts which are carried by the first slider and which are interconnected in an electrically conductive manner are associated with a contact link. This is advantageous for a particularly simple as well as very reliable construction. The afore-mentioned aspects as well as further aspects of the invention will be apparent from the example of an embodiment described hereinafter and will be elucidated with reference to this example.